Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

517 reviews

tristan_lince's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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kirtreads's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This book has such a fun premise, the setting is fun, and it has some great twists throughout. The author does a good job of capturing the Agatha Christie vibe very well. 

However, this book has some issues. First, there are so many characters and all have small details that you need to remember. It gets very complicated and some of it feels redundant. The main character says his head feels full to bursting by the end and I agree.

Second, this book had some characters that just did not meet to be in there. I think we could have done with one or two less perspectives and had a tighter grip on the details as the reader. I often felt lost in the plot and then info dumped on. 

Lastly, the big plot reveal for Aidan.
You are telling me this man gets trapped in this hellscape, doesn’t remember who he is, then he learns this woman is a friend, but she betrays him for a reason we really don’t know, gets cool with that real quick, learns she murders his sister in some horrific way and still decides, yeah, I’ll go on the run with this woman?  At no point did I ever feel these two were connected that deeply so the ending felt forced. I get letting her escape but now having to run away and spend his life on the run for this woman is crazy. I get what the author was doing and that the two died to themselves but you gotta make me believe it a little bit more.


Overall, despite the issues it was a fun pool read that I will still recommend to people I know love Agatha. Not the best book I have ever read, but very fun. 

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jennalerm's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

sadly i felt like this didnt hit as hard with the reread. its still a really cool book and very interesting twists. i just saw more holes this time when i read. i also think there was almost too many mysteries and murders that it stopped having the shock factor at a certain point

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katiekinsi97's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

The premise, while interesting, lead to a story with a confusing plot that had too many elements, a world building structure that was difficult to follow, and an ending that was felt disconnected from the story and was unsatisfying based on the premise given. More spoiler based thoughts below.
I don’t understand how time works in this story. To me, the events of the day should be fixed, no matter who Aiden is at any given moment. The fact that they aren’t doesn’t make sense. Additionally, if they’re supposed to be solving a murder that actually happened- the actions of Daniel, Anna, or Aiden shouldn’t have any effect on it. But having Felicity as the murderer is DIRECTLY tied to Aiden’s actions. The twist at the end should have been that Evelyn wasn’t murdered- Felicity was. Thats the /actual/ answer. 
I have so many more thoughts.

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poisoned_icecream's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5


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jordynjohnson's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I really wanted to love this book because I love murder mysteries but it was so convoluted and confusing. This was a groundhog day kind of story and there are so many different characters and the events aren’t told in the order in which they happen. I still liked it but it was pretty hard to follow. 

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eng2's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


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proudtobeabookaholic's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Ett ensligt beläget gods. En dag som upprepar sig. Ett mord som måste lösas för att bryta cirkeln. Låter tillräckligt udda för att locka mig att vilja läsa den här deckaren!

Jag har mestadels lyssnat på boken (utmärkt uppläsning av Anders Jansson), men eftersom det är ett stort persongalleri så var jag tacksam att jag även hade den fysiska boken tillgänglig. De sista kapitlen, med upplösningen, struntade jag faktiskt helt i ljudboken. 

Vi får lära känna en mängd mer eller mindre udda karaktärer, alla med helt egna personligheter och temperament. Däremot är det bara en berättare, Aiden Bishop, och honom får vi veta minst om, hur konstigt det än låter. Man kan säga att det är en pusseldeckare, men en väldigt originell sådan och mer komplex än t ex Agatha Christies dito (som för övrigt var en stor inspiration till den här boken, enligt författarens efterord). Den kräver fokus och koncentration, kanske lite mer än jag var villig att ge, för jag blev i alla fall överraskad av upplösningen (tack och lov - jag brukar bli besviken om jag kommer på lösningen i förtid!).

Det här är en bok som det passar att gå in ganska blind i. Jag visste egentligen bara att den var annorlunda på något sätt och det brukar räcka för mig. Det gjorde också att jag till en början inte hade någon aning om vad som försiggick och jag bjöds på flera överraskningar längs vägen. Att det var så många karaktärer inblandade gjorde mig ibland förvirrad och jag fick gå tillbaka för att se vem som var vem, men Turton gjorde verkligen ett bra jobb med att ge alla speciella egenheter. Jag är grymt imponerad av att det här är en debutroman!

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jessiereads98's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Come for the cool concept. Leave because of the shoddy execution, fatphobia, half-baked commentary on the carceral system, and war criminal apologism.

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sandysmith's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I'm gradually adding books I've read in 2021 to give a true reflection of the books I've read since keeping records.  This was the first book I read in 2021, and is what kick started my reading journey having put reading on the back burner whilst bringing up the children, previously being an avid reader.  It's a fantastic read, with an interesting concept a group hog day with a murder mystery thrown in. It took a couple of chapters together into the book and understand it. But once ot clicked its great. Someone is murdered at a ball tonight but it won't appear to be a murder so the murderer won't get caught. Rectify that injustice will show you how to get out. Evelyn Hardcastle is killed at the party, she dies several times. Aiden one of the guests tries to solve her murder. The day is repeated over and over, identify the killer and the cycle is broken.  A fantastic read.

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